What can be done to make boys and young men more interested in reading books?

When your novel gets a negative review, “it’s your entire being that is negated. And that hurts.” But you have to learn to let it go.

There’s no formula to writing. The key thing is simply to read, says the novelist. “The best teacher is a cheap, little Penguin classic.”

A tiny germ of an idea leads to research, which leads to further ideas and then more research. Eventually the writer has hundreds of pages of notes to work from.

Martel never bases his characters on real people—they’re always a vehicle for something he wants to express.

The major religions have all had their excesses, but there’s something about spiritual thinking that augments a life.

Allegorical fiction can take very complex realities and convey them in powerful, emotional, psychologically accurate way.

A conversation with the Man Booker Prize-winning novelist.

Josh Ritter can’t complain about today’s recording industry: the concerts are improving and some lesser-known artists are doing great work.

"The secret of excellent proofreading is caring intensely about getting things right and loathing error with an intensity that perhaps only fascism or an alimony-collecting ex-wife deserves," writes Joseph Epstein.

"The age-old atavistic lust for war … never really goes away," writes Evan Thomas. "It is too fundamental to the male psyche."

"Europe used to be, within the living memory of many of us, the cockpit of world power, prosperity and prestige. Today it is raw material for an ouija board," writes Walter Lacquer.

While acknowledging the progress over the past 50 years that was enabled by birth control pills, Geraldine Sealey thinks we now need new methods beyond hormonal contraception.

Former U.N. ambassador John Bolton writes that "It is hard to conclude anything except that the Obama administration is resigned to Iran possessing nuclear weapons."

New studies indicate that combining exercise activities (like walking or biking) with nature—even for just five minutes—can boost mental health and well-being.

New data suggest a "rebalancing" of the global economy. Domestic spending in the developing world is beginning to replace export-buying American consumers as a growth engine.

"The proper function of spies is to remind those who rely on spies that the kinds of thing found out by spies can’t be trusted," notes Malcolm Gladwell.

Recent research suggests that people all over the world might be modeling themselves after characters on soap operas—and that their lives are improved as a result.

Group theory "bridges the arts and sciences," writes Steven Strogatz. "It addresses something the two cultures share—an abiding fascination with symmetry."

How designers are revolutionizing corrective eyewear with low-cost, durable, beautifully designed glasses for the developing world, where lack of access to vision healthcare presents an obstacle to anything from basic safety to education